Will Tim Cook be looser with Apple’s cash?

Few on Wall Street seem worried about Tim Cook’s ability to run Apple Inc. in the wake of the resignation of CEO Steve Jobs, which has resulted in the 13-year company vet landing the top job at the iconic tech firm.

One question raised by a few analysts on Thursday – though – has to do with Apple’s AAPL massive cash war chest, which totaled more than $76 billion at the end of the June quarter and is widely expected to hit the $100 billion mark by the end of the year.

Apple has long faced the question from shareholders on what it plans to do with its growing pile of money. The company does not have a history of either big acquisitions or returning cash to shareholders through buybacks or dividends on a regular basis.

Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research – who has long been calling for Apple to start returning cash to shareholders – said Thursday that the current changes at the company will not likely alter the company’s cash-retention policies, given that Jobs will remain involved with Apple as chairman of the board.

“We continue to believe that a return of cash to shareholders would be value creating (certainly relative to the <1% interest income the company currently generates on it) and that it could help attract a new class of value-oriented investors to the stock,” Sacconaghi wrote in a note to clients.

Maynard Um of UBS seemed to think that the changes at Apple might be a little more likely to lead to a shift in cash use.

“We believe the company should also consider a share repurchase given its cash balance, which we think is generally more of a possibility with [the] management change, and which we believe would be a positive catalyst,” he wrote.

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